1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a two-piece videocassette. One piece of the combination is a videotape cartridge. This cartridge is used with a second piece, called the videocassette adaptor. In devices of this type, the cartridge is inserted into the videocassette adaptor, and the composite two-piece assembly emulates an industry standard VHS videocassette.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is common to supply magnetic recording media or tape in a cassette format. The traditional cassette format includes both a supply reel and a take-up reel in a single housing. The magnetic recording tape is anchored at one end to the tape supply reel, and at the other end to the tape take-up reel. The videotape machine moves the tape between these two reels. Although this system is robust and reliable in operation, the inclusion of an empty reel in the housing makes this packaging strategy inefficient for tape storage.
In applications where the size of the standard cassette is too large for inclusion into the product, several manufacturers have adopted miniature cassette formats. These miniature formats reduce the amount of tape available for use, but satisfy the other design parameters of the application. The availability of miniature cassettes has caused the development of specialized cassette-to-cassette adaptors which permit the miniature cassette to be played in a conventional videotape machine. Such devices are widely known and illustrated in the patent literature. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,544,970 to H. Ogata, teaches a cassette-to-cassette adaptor.
It has also been proposed to supply tape in a cartridge format for a variety of tape applications, and reference may be had to U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,101 to J. A. Smith, which teaches a computer-type magnetic tape cartridge.
More recently, the cartridge format has been proposed for videotape products as known from U.K. Patent Application No. 2,217,684 A to R. L. Davis as inventor, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,920,436 to Novak. Novak and Davis teach, inter alia, a carrier or adaptor which is used to adapt a videotape cartridge to an industry standard videocassette format. In Novak, the cartridge-to-cassette adaptor includes both a take-up reel and tether within the adaptor housing. The tape cartridge, includes a tape supply reel, and specialized interconnection hardware to connect the cartridge tape to the adaptor tether. However, in Novak, there is no mechanical drive mechanism provided for transporting the tether, and this passive cartridge adaptor structure is apparently intended for immediate use in a videotape machine, once the cartridge is loaded into the adaptor.